Monday, June 25, 2012

Character is like a beautiful sunset:We know when we've seen it; andIt's face fills us with awe. CharacterIs what we become as we live out Our gifts. It's how we treat each other;A door held open vs slammed shut;Character is the vast differenceBetween being good and seemingTo do good things. Being dawnsTruth as its morning garmentsWhile seeming runs exhausted--Never quite certain what to wear;You run into beautiful sunsets whenYou're not looking; like the dayI first found you.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

The last time I talked to my friend and former hair
dresser, Susan Fisher, she was worried about someone else.

She said a great deal has happened in Mary’s family (not
her real name); you should call her.But
she didn’t reveal what had been told to
her in confidence—Susan Fisher was not that kind of person.

Since her Bible was her best friend, she respected others
who may have divulged their private hearts while sitting elevated in her salon
chair. For her, secrets went simply from one chest cavity to another.

I enjoyed my time with Susan; her business, called Hidden
Cove, was a treasure no matter what the address. Since I was a starving artist,
she offered to sell my humble prose in a basket on a stand or table in her
beauty shop. She would save the money for me.

We were in a business group together, seeking to give other
members tips on possible business contacts. We gave speeches on what we were
about, and offered incentives for our respective businesses.

But what Susan did doesn’t tell who she was.
She had an open heart and a faith that comforted and consoled. Her spiritual
walk was central to her life.She had
vibrant red hair (the latest tint), and a spirit of inclusion. She wasn’t a
prude, either, loving to laugh at life which is as good as any hair tonic. That
was a truth she carried.

But things were never smooth for long. She battled both
breast cancer and kidney disease. And as a proprietor of a small business, it
was hard to get and keep good health care if you had a preexisting conditions.
(No personal mandate then, nor that much sympathy if you weren’t under a
corporate umbrella.)

Inadequate medications, not the better ones that would have worked,
had caused her body to reject a kidney she received, resulting in kidney
failure.

I offered to write a letter to her Congressman requesting
help with health coverage for her. I believe he came through for her.

Her home was like a doll house, clean, sweet, and
dear.Her beauty shop, her business, was
organized and inviting. She was as gracious as The Prince of Peace.

She had a luminous inner being, and an open door.

Her family relationships weren’t perfect just like the families of the customers
she served weren’t perfect. But you became a kin, or certainly a friend, as you
shared your walk in life as the latest tint and rinse were poured on your head. She
always put a little Jesus in your hair—and you just can’t get that everywhere.

About Me

About Writer in Residence: I am a creative writer and poet. I look for sacredness and truth in everyday life, drawing from my Christian roots to the mindfulness of zen. My prose honors someone in some way. I have written on loss, love, women, family and friendship. Profoundly spiritual, I've written prayers in prose for those both in and out of recovery or "discovery." I began selling my words in 1993. "I am a poet: Words are the winds of my song."